Climate Friendly Rewards… and how we got here
I tell you… the sheer scale of climate change is overwhelming (we’re trying to make a measurable difference) and no matter how we approach this problem, it’s paralyzing. For a few years now I’ve been deep on a mission to make it happen but today I’m to focus on one specific initiative we’re launching — Climate Friendly Rewards for merchants using Climate Friendly Cart… and how we got here.
When reality strikes
We’ve been lucky and have been through two business accelerators. We were able to test assumptions and validate them with our target market. We knew there is a selection of sustainability tools out there, but why weren’t merchants swarming all over them? Are they not addressing their needs? Are the options to numerous as to cause choice paralysis? Are the too difficult to adopt? Are they too costly?
We love getting feedback from the market, so we reached out to a number of merchants to better understand their challenges, pain points and problems we could help them solve. The unequivocal feedback was:
- Make it simple — we’re busy.
- Our core focus is revenue and customer satisfaction and we measure new initiatives by these metrics.
- We have it incredibly tough financially, we’re already paying for a dozen services — it adds up… we need a financial incentive.
- We embrace services that are multi-pronged in the way they support us.
The ethical way to give merchants a kickback
Our team huddled — how can we address these issues for merchants? Our roadmap already included many features that made the sustainability offering even stronger, but what about the financial incentive? The solution quickly appeared — let’s give the merchant 10% rebate. Not just any rebate but a rebate with purpose. Climate Friendly Rewards was born.
With Climate Friendly Rewards, when a merchant collects $1000 worth of offsets from their customers, they’ll get $100 back. Is that ethical? Is there a brand risk? Would the customer feel ripped off? There was only one way to find out. Ask the customer!
- We surveyed and interviewed customers
- We told them that our bulk buying power gives us the ability to buy carbon offsets at wholesale prices which offsets the rewards. We’re simply passing on a share of our wholesale buying discount to businesses who helped make it happen.
- We make sure the business “does good” with their rewards
What was the result? 100% of the customers we spoke to had no issue with our model.
What can merchants do with Climate Friendly Rewards?
We give merchants the choice to:
- Offset business emissions (like business flights) or go Carbon Neutral
- Donate to a tree-planting charity (like Eden Reforestation Projects)
- Withdraw for cash, to spend on internal sustainability initiatives to reduce the carbon intensity of their business (like composting bins or LED lighting)
Offset business emissions
This one was simple and something we’ll be focussing on more in the near future as we develop tools for businesses to learn about their carbon footprint. For now, this is a great choice for businesses that know about their carbon footprint and want to offset some of that footprint with their rewards. The offsets made by the business get added to the business’ cumulative impact dashboard. Also, if a business is becoming, or is already carbon neutral with another provider, they can allocate rewards towards getting this certification.
Donate to a tree-planting charity
We’re particularly fond of trees, so this was also a no-brainer. We work with a number of tree-planting charities so we hope this option will appeal to businesses who want to see more amazing reforestation take place globally and in their local communities. Interestingly, if the donation is significant, tree-planting charities will often provide amazing marketing assets that the business can use to motivate their team or customers.
Withdraw for cash, to spend on internal sustainability initiatives to reduce the carbon intensity of their business
This is also a very impactful option — by getting businesses to address other sustainability initiatives in-house, we help them reduce the ongoing emissions and environmental impact of the business. Not only is this critical for the world to transition to a low carbon economy, but after learning about the pressures merchants face to survive, knowing that we can support them in this way is incredibly rewarding. We encourage investment in low-energy appliances, low weight and compostable packaging, sustainable raw materials, office composting/recycling bins, etc.
Sure, there is a small chance businesses cheat and pocket the money — but they’re only cheating themselves. Carbon emissions are associated with lots of positive co-benefits and an improved bottom line.
We’re confident Climate Friendly Rewards will help merchants on their journey to sustainability and will help us all make a real impact in the fight against climate change.
